We read in Judges 5:31, “And there was peace in the land for forty years.”(GNB)
The people of Israel enjoyed peace in the land for forty years, and this was possible because the Lord rendered the enemies of the Israelites powerless and established peace in the land. It is indeed true that the Lord is the source of peace, and if the Lord does not accord us with peace, no one else on earth can grant it to us.
We read in Judges 6:13, “And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian." (ESV)
The Israelites who had experience tranquility for forty years, were now under the aggression of the Midianites, and Gideon was distraught. Gideon’s lament in the midst of the oppression, was that the Lord had forsaken them. Gideon it seemed placed the entire blame on the Lord for the predicament they were in. For forty long years the peace of God and His protection had prevailed over the people of Israel, but when they chose to walk away in rebellious disobedience, the Lord handed them over to their adversaries.
There are many believers who have been overwhelmed with the feeling of being abandoned by God like Gideon and the Israelites did. In the midst of those trying situations, the thought that is topmost on their minds is, if the Lord is with them, why are they faced with so many trials, hardships and difficulties? They are overpowered by their circumstances, that they are convinced that the Lord has forsaken them. Like Gideon, often we don’t introspect to see where we have failed or gone wrong and conveniently blame God for all our troubles. Often times our adverse circumstances are a result of us not having walked with God, and having lived in obedience to His word.
If we go back to Judges 6:1, we read, “The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.”(ESV)
The Lord who watched over his people for forty years, intentionally handed over the people of Israel to the Midianites, only because they did evil in the sight of the Lord.
The Israelites were a chosen people
The people of Israel who were walking in rebellion and disobedience to God were a chosen people. We read in Genesis 22:16-17, "I make a vow by my own name---the LORD is speaking---that I will richly bless you. Because you did this (obeyed) and did not keep back your only son from me, I promise that I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky or grains of sand along the seashore. Your descendants will conquer their enemies.” (GNB)
The promise of God to Abraham was that He would surely bless him richly, and make his descendants numerous. He also assured Abraham that his descendants would conquer all their enemies. The Israelites who were the descendants of Abraham were therefore children of promise, who were assured of God’s blessings and protection. God who promised Abraham is a faithful God who always keeps His promise. But, we notice that Gideon and the children of Israel were being oppressed only because they chose to walk away from the Lord in disobedience and rebellion.
Many believers start off in their journey with the Lord with faith, zeal and live in obedience to the word of God. However, as time goes by they begin to blend in with the world, and allow sin to take over, causing them to backslide. The consequence of this is that they are confronted with myriads of problems, that they bring on themselves, and then blame God for all of it.
The word of God is full of promises that God has made to each one of us. His promises are always for our well-being. Therefore, when we are met with those defeating situations, instead of complaining, it is good for us to examine ourselves to see if we have disobeyed God in any way. We can be confident knowing that the Lord who called us will never forsake us or abandon us even for a moment. God is not man to change His mind, or to fail in fulfilling His promises to us.
God’s great plan that man subverted
We read in Genesis 1:28, “God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the land, and conquer it. Rule over the fish of the sea, the flying creatures of the sky, and over every animal that crawls on the land.” (TLV)
When God created Adam and Eve, He made them in His own image and likeness. Just as God was the ruler, He also gave man the authority to rule over all of His creation. Adam was even given the responsibility to name all the animals that God created. However, man lost this authority to rule, when Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God.
Paul wrote in Romans 5:17, “It is true that through the sin of one man death began to rule” (GNB)
When Adam and Eve sinned, not only did they lose the authority to rule, but also were subjected to the rule of death over their lives. The abundance of life that God ordained for them was now engulfed by the power of death. God’s original plan got thwarted, and man was deprived of the authority that God had entrusted to him. No one coerced Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When tempted, they willfully decided to make that choice to disobey God’s command. Adam and Eve not only sinned, but also were unwilling to own up for their wrong doing, and while Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent.
Most often God’s plan and purposes in our lives are hindered not by those outside, but because of our own sin and willful disobedience. Many of the problems and difficulties we encounter, are the outcome of our sinful rebellious ways. It is always easy for us to shift the blame on others for our predicament, but if we want to bring about change, we must firstly accept our faults, and acknowledge where we have gone wrong. Sometimes we find it easier to shift our blame onto those closest to us, especially our spouse, our children and those closely associated with us. Instead of trying to find fault with everyone around us, if we could be wise for us to realize that if we change, the people and situations around us will certainly change.
In Romans 5:10, “We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son.” (GNT)
When God made man in the Garden of Eden there were in perfect harmony, fellowship and friendship with each other. However, when man disobeyed and sin entered, man became God’s enemy. This is because God is holy, and cannot tolerate or reside in the presence of sin and evil. That is why Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden.
If one were to be at enmity with God there is no telling what would happen to them, as they place themselves in a dangerous place. That is why in the midst of all the Midianite aggression, Gideon moaned because he knew that God was displeased with the sins of the people of Israel, and was at enmity with them. With sin in the camp the feeling of being forsaken was the natural consequence. As long as Gideon was complaining the situation remained the same, but when Gideon changed his outlook, and accepted the Lord’s command, his situation also transformed completely.
It is only when we accept that the fault lies with us, and are willing to change, will we experience the Lord’s intervention and deliverance. As long as we are waiting for the other person to change, our problems will persist. Once we change, we will observe the difference in everyone around us. We must own up our faults and failures if we wish to witness transformation all around us. As long as sin reigns in us, we will be overcome with the feeling of being forsaken by God.
The sacrifice that transformed Gideon’s perspective
We read in Judges 6:24, Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and named it "The LORD is Peace." (GNB)
This same Gideon who was confused a little earlier in Judges 6:13, was now certain that the Lord was with him, and he built an altar to the Lord and named it ‘Jehovah Shalom’ (The Lord is Peace). Until now there was only a conversation that ensued between the angel of the Lord and Gideon, and based on the assurance from the angel of the Lord, Gideon was now courageous and confident to proclaim that the Lord was his peace.
We read in Judges 6:19-20, “So Gideon went into his house and cooked a young goat and used a bushel of flour to make bread without any yeast. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them to the LORD's angel under the oak tree, and gave them to him. The angel told him, "Put the meat and the bread on this rock, and pour the broth over them." Gideon did so. (GNB)
There are four important aspects we note in the sacrifice that Gideon offered to the angel of the Lord that day. There was 1. A young Goat 2. Unleavened bread 3. The rock and 4.The Lord’s angel under the oak tree.
A young goat and unleavened bread
Gideon’s offering of a young goat and unleavened bread had much significance. The people of Israel were in bondage to the Egyptians for more than 400 years. They experienced pain, misery and death during those difficult years, and were unable to do anything that they desired to do. As the Israelites cried out to the Lord in their slavery, God sent Moses to deliver them. In Exodus 12, the Lord brought about a mighty deliverance for His people as they observed the Passover. Each family was to take a year old lamb unblemished, sacrifice it and smear the blood on the door posts and lentils of their house, so that the angel of death would pass over them whereby they could be saved. They were also instructed to eat unleavened bread, which signified a life without sin. The lamb and the bread were a symbols declaring that Jesus the sinless Lamb of God would come to shed his precious blood for the sins of all mankind, and have his sinless body broken so mankind can be set free from the power of sin.
The Rock
The angel of the LORD commanded Gideon to put the meat and the bread on a rock, which was later consumed by fire that came out of the rock which was also very meaningful. As the Lord led the people of Israel through the wilderness for forty years they were taught to depend on the Lord for every need of theirs. In a crisis situation where they had no water, the Lord intervened in Exodus 17:6, and said, “I will stand before you on a rock at Mount Sinai. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” (GNB)
Paul writing in 1 Corinthians 10:4 says, “and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” (ESV)
God himself stood before the people of Israel on the rock, and when the rock was struck water gushed forth to quench the thirst of the people. Paul refers to the rock that accompanied them as Jesus Christ Himself.
The angel of the LORD
The angel of the LORD who waited under the oak tree and accepted Gideon’s offering is the representation of the Lord Jesus Himself, who would one day be hung on the cross, beaten, bruised and taste the agony of death for the sins of all mankind, so that those who believe in Him, will not die but live with Him forever.
As Gideon placed this beautiful offering with the above mentioned components before the LORD, suddenly his fear, apprehension was replaced with peace and confidence that came from God Himself. No longer did Gideon feel forsaken by God, but knew that certain that deliverance was at hand and that God was his peace.
There are many difficult situations that we encounter that we are unable to handle with our own effort. We need the Lord’s help and intervention which He is prepared to give. The Lord calls us to come out of our sinful life and be clean. We cannot do this on our own, but Jesus did this on the cross of Calvary by shedding his precious blood like the Passover lamb, and had his body broken like the unleavened bread, so we could lead a life of holiness free from sin and bondage to sin. It is only when we believe and appropriate the fact that the Lord Jesus shed his precious blood for our sins, His sinless body was wounded on our behalf, will we find redemption and victory over sin. Remember that God desires to be our Father and our friend.
In our walk of faith with the Lord, things may seem easy at first and may get challenging as we grown in the Lord. Let us keep in mind that these wilderness experiences, teach us like the people of Israel, to trust in the Lord and lean on Him completely, to meet all our needs. Jesus came to earth to deliver us from sin, curses, sickness and death itself. If we believe that Jesus died for us, and are willing to commit our lives to him, he will liberate us, and will never leave nor forsake us.
God is watching us all the time, and He is aware when we are choosing to do wrong because He has given us our free will to choose between right and wrong. Let us desire to make the right decisions, for only when we do so the peace of God will remain with us.
Jesus has finished everything for us on the cross where wrath of God rested on Him. In Isaiah 53:5, we read, “He was wounded for our rebellious acts. He was crushed for our sins. He was punished so that we could have peace, and we received healing from his wounds.” (GW)
In Romans 5:10, “We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Now that we are God's friends, how much more will we be saved by Christ's life!” (GNB)
Whenever we participate in the table of communion that Jesus instructed us to, we do so remembering that we have entered into this new covenant with Jesus. The cup signifies the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross to free us from our sins, and the bread signifies the sinless body of Jesus that was broken so we can stand justified before God. Every time we take part in the communion, no matter what time of the day it is, it reminds us that Jesus paid a great price for our salvation and redemption.
May we always be filled with peace, irrespective of what our challenges are, knowing that the Lord will never forsake us, and He had made peace for us with the Father. Once we were enemies of God, but Jesus who alone is the mediator, reconciled us to the Father, making us God’s friends and has promised us peace that passes all human understanding.
Rev. F. Andrew Dixon
www.goodnewsfriends.net
Transcribed by: Sis. Esther Collins
